WWW readers Rachel and Chris decided to have a relaxed festival feel to their wedding after becoming friends at Glastonbury. They wanted the music, food and their friends to be the focus.
Rachel and Chris had a church service followed by a tipi field reception in Wedmore (great name for a wedding), Somerset. Their tipi looked cosy yet pretty with relaxed home made décor and lovely flowers.
There was an abundance of style, with Rachel donning a 1920s inspired dress by Charlie Brear, the boys in traditional tails and the bridesmaids fantastic in blush dresses from ASOS.
Thanks so much to the brilliant Matt Willis for sharing his photography with us today.
The Proposal… He surprised me with a Christmas trip to New York where the entire thing was planned out complete with trip to watch the Lion King, dinner at The Riverside Café and ice skating in Central Park. He proposed in the middle of the park next to a lake with nobody around.
The Vision for the Day… We became friends after going to Glastonbury together for the last 10 years so we wanted a relaxed festival theme where music, food and friends were the focus.
The Venue… Ceremony: St Mary’s Church, Wedmore. Reception: The Glebe Field, Wedmore.
The Dress + Accessories… I found what I thought was the perfect dress whilst researching online so my mum and one of my bridesmaids went to London to The Vintage Wedding Dress Company (http://www.thevintageweddingdresscompany.com/charliebrear/). Their show room is incredibly idyllic and full of vintage treasures. After trying on a range, I fell in love with a 1920s inspired drop waisted number. It was different to anything I’d seen before and I felt like myself in it from the minute I put it on.
Groom’s Attire… We went to Moss Bros for the suits as they had the purple colour we were looking for and were local and easy for all of the ushers and best men to get fitted.
The Readings + Music… We walked up the aisle to ‘One Day Like This’ by Elbow played by my bridesmaid’s boyfriend Steve on the cello and a student from my school playing the violin. We then had 3 hymns, rounding off with Jackie Wilson’s ‘Your love keeps lifting me higher’ to play us out of the church.
We gave two of our readers the option of what to read so one wrote us a poem and the other read Us Two by A.A.Milne (Winnie the Pooh). We also had a religious reading which was Song of Solomon 8 v 6,7.
Beautiful Bridesmaids… Bridesmaid dresses were a bargain from ASOS.
The Flowers… We chose our local florist, Xanthe Ivory of Ivory Flowers whose style fit ours perfectly.
The Cake… My friend Alayna made us two sets of weird and wonderfully flavoured cupcakes which were placed into a replica of Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage. The classic pink played the part of the stage and the bright coloured cakes sat on the grass and played the part of the crowd.
Your Photographer… We discovered Matt Willis in an online advert and fell in love with his reportage style with lots of natural shots. After we met him for brunch, we thought he was great and ever since he has been absolutely perfect, mingling effortlessly with our guests at the wedding and providing thoughtful pre and post wedding service.
The Details + Decor… As we had tipis we want to keep things really natural in there so went for some papel picado with Spanish love quotes as I spent some time living in South America. We coupled that with ivy wrapped around the beams and lots of other white bunting.
In the outside bar we went for a Copa Cobana theme with lots of bright colours and tacky décor. We then had hay bales, lanterns and home made wooden signs around the place to keep the festival vibe. My parents even painted a 6ft replica of our invite to use at the entrance to the field.
The Honeymoon… We went to Tanzania and Zanzibar and spent the first week on safari which was incredible. We then had a few days in Stone Town before flying to Pemba Island to Fundu Lagoon where we were treated like royalty in a beautiful, isolated setting.
Memorable Moments… From the honeymoon it would definitely be seeing giraffes fighting and a lion dragging its kill then eating it next to our van. Memorable for all the wrong reasons was when a monkey that was missing half of its jaw jumped into our jeep.
The whole thing felt so memorable from my dad doing his best ‘dad dancing’ to the beatboxer, to walking down the aisle to our favourite song.
Advice for Other Couples… Be yourselves and choose a day that incorporates your relationship and both of your personalities.
Credit Where Credit is Due…
Dress: www.charliebrear.com
Tipis: http://www.worldinspiredtents.co.uk/
Flowers: Xanthe Ivory: Ivory Flowers: http://www.ivoryflowers.co.uk
Photographer: Matt Willis: www.mattwillisphotography.com
Wow. I love everything about this wedding. Sooo pretty. Thanks so much to Rachel and Chris for sharing their wedding with us today XOXO Lou
